Cannibal! The Musical (1993) on Netflix
R19931h 35mComedyMusicalThriller
Alferd Packer guides five miners out of Bingham Canyon in search of gold in Colorado Territory. At his 1883 trial, only reporter Polly Pry listens to his version of the journey.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.9/1013,943 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes61%
Trailer
Plot summary
At Alferd Packer's 1883 trial the prosecution describes what became of his companions, and Packer insists it did not happen that way. During a break, reporter Polly Pry gets him to tell his own version. In 1873 he signs on with miners working in Bingham Canyon, Utah, after word spreads of new prospects at Breckenridge, and leads them toward Colorado Territory with his horse Lianne, promising a journey of three weeks. The party is Shannon Wilson Bell, James Humphrey, Frank Miller, George Noon and Israel Swan. Four weeks later they believe they are lost, and a local warns them about the mountains. In Provo they meet three trappers, O.D. Loutzenheiser, Preston Nutter and their leader Frenchy Cabazon, who hold miners in contempt. The next morning Lianne is gone.
Cast
- Ian Hardinas Shannon Bell
- Jon Hegelas Isreal Swan
- Masao Makias Indian Chief
- Robert Muratoreas Frenchy Cabazon
- Randy Parkeras Judge Jerry
- Stephen Blackpoolas Black Cat
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Cannibal! The Musical (1993)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Cannibal! The Musical began as a three-minute trailer Trey Parker made for a film class; Parker based Packer's disloyal horse Lianne on his ex-fiancée, whom he had caught cheating shortly before their wedding.
- Shooting the film in Colorado was hazardous: Trey Parker suffered a hairline hip fracture when thrown from a horse playing Lianne, fights broke out among the crew, cast members got cold shock and were nearly swept away crossing the icy Gunnison River, and an avalanche disrupted the shoot.
- The film is loosely based on the true story of Alfred "Alferd" Packer, whose 1873 journey from Utah to Colorado left his five fellow travelers dead and partially eaten.
- Though not a success, the film reached Pam Brady, then an assistant to Fox executive Brian Graden, and her and Graden's relationship with Parker and Stone became key to the history of South Park.
- Two songs were cut from the film: "Shatterproof", a rap Packer was to sing during the bar fight, and "Don't Be Stupid" for the Bingham Canyon miners; Ian Hardin said Trey Parker thought "Shatterproof" made Packer seem too tough.
- In 2005 the first high school staging of the show, at Ironwood Ridge High School in Tucson, Arizona, was censored by the school and performed off campus as a benefit.
- At the film's October 31, 1993 premiere in Boulder, Colorado, friends of Parker and Stone staged a fake protest outside the theater, modeled on an animal rights demonstration.
- The film's courtroom scenes were shot in the same Lake City, Colorado courthouse where the real Alferd Packer was tried.
